Satellite News

Orbcomm Inc. announced that Orbcomm and SpaceX plan to launch eleven OG2 satellites from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on the next launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket targeted to take place in the next six to eight weeks.

The U. S. Air Force awarded launch services contracts for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) L-47 and Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) GEO-4 to United Launch Alliance (ULA) missions as part of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) Phase 1 Block Buy contract.

The FORMOSAT-5 satellite has passed space environment and function tests and is expected to be launched at the end of February 2016, South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) said.

The LISA Pathfinder demonstrator for space-based observations of gravitational waves is undergoing checkout, preparing it for a 2 December launch on Arianespace’s sixth flight of the Vega light-lift launcher from French Guiana.

Airbus Defence and Space has successfully completed the final integration and testing of the new Telstar 12 VANTAGE satellite for Telesat.

The first launches from the Vostochny Cosmodrome are possible in 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said. This would be at least three months later than previously planned.

NASA’s Launch Services Program (LSP) has awarded multiple Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) contracts to provide small satellites (SmallSats) — also called CubeSats, microsats or nanosatellites — access to low-Earth orbit.

Russia may sign a rocket engine delivery agreement with China during Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s visit in mid-December, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin was quoted as saying.